Radio frequency identification (RFID) is used in a wide variety of logistics, supply chain, manufacturing, and other applications. For some RFID protocols the reader may modulate commands onto a radio frequency (RF) carrier signal and the RFID tags respond to the modulated commands. The reader's modulation must include amplitude modulation because some RFID tag's commonly use envelope detection to decode the commands. The amplitude modulation requires that the reader's RF power amplifier (RFPA or “power amplifier”) be linear enough to pass regulatory and protocol conformance testing. However, there is typically a trade-off between RFPA linearity and RFPA power efficiency. To reduce cost and package size, the high performance RFID reader design must jointly optimize RFPA linearity and power efficiency. Many conventional RFID readers use class-AB RFPA designs for which linearity and power efficiency may be conflicting properties.